Quincy Shooting Called 'suicide by Cop'

The 65-year-old man shot dead by police had lunged at an officer with a bloody knife in what authorities called a desperate episode of ``suicide by cop.
Two patrol officers fired three shots at James Hart, hitting him twice, after he charged out from a poolside cabana behind his home at 32 Grand View Ave. in the Wollaston section, Norfolk District Attorney William Keating said. Hart was prnounced dead at Boston Medical Center.
Six Quincy officers were placed on paid leave after the shooting, which occurred just after 10 a.m. yesterday when police responded to a 911 call from family members. They told police Hart had cut himself in an attempt at suicide. Placing officers on leave is standard practice after a shooting.
Keating called the shooting justified based on initial findings by the State Police. He said the officers attempted to disarm Hart using ``nonlethal means, including pepper spray.
But when Hart, who had goaded police to shoot him, charged out from the cabana and bore down on an officer with a 12-inch kitchen knife, two other officers opened fire, Keating said. Hart came ``close enough so (the officer's) life was in danger.
It was the first time since 1975 that Quincy police had shot and killed anyone.
Police Chief Robert Crowley declined to name the officers temporarily taken off duty. They will undergo stress counseling, he said.
``We're letting the officers take as much time as necessary to get over this, Crowley said.
Police sources said patrol officers Paul Jackson and William Lanergan Jr. fired at Hart. Officers John O'Donnell, Paul Matthews, James Cassidy and Mark Millane were also placed on leave, the sources said.
Officers and paramedics were dispatched to the home, a duplex near Newport Avenue and Beale Street, at 9:57 a.m., when the 911 call was received.
The first officer to arrive called for backup when Hart, already bloodied from self-inflicted knife wounds, tried to attack him, according to officer Bruce Tait, head of the Quincy police patrolmen's union.
As more police arrived, Hart retreated to the backyard cabana-style shed.
Tait said police surrounded the cabana and tried to persuade Hart to surrender the knife. But Hart continued to urge police to shoot him before charging at two of the officers, who fell down, Tait said.
``He was literally standing over (one of the officers) with the knife and the two officers fired, Tait said, calling it a ``clear-cut case of suicide by cop.
``The officers showed incredible restraint in dealing with this guy, Tait said. He said officers used shields and pepper spray.
The entire incident lasted five to 10 minutes, Chief Crowley said.
Authorities provided little information about Hart, who neighbors said lived in a basement unit with his wife, Joan, 66. A 40-year-old woman, Joanie Hart, is also listed as a resident in the home. The beige, two-story house is owned by family members who live upstairs.
Karen Slattery, who lives three doors away, said she awoke to the sound of gunshots and ran to the street to see what had happened. She said a neighbor told her Hart had been ``having a hard time recently.
Slattery said the Harts moved into the house a little more than two years ago. She described Hart as a quiet, ``old school guy, who liked to listen to the radio on his front porch and smoke cigarettes.
``This is a nice quiet neighborhood, she said.
In May, Boston magazine named Grand View Avenue the fourth best street to live on on the South Shore, in part for its ``dozens of gingerbread Queen Annes and Second Empires, ranging from $400,000 to $800,000.

The last deadly police shooting in Quincy happened in February 1975. Two officers shot an 18-year-old Chelsea woman in the head when she tried to run them down in a stolen Cadillac.
Authorities would not say what they believe led Hart to urge police to kill him.
DA Keating, who also termed the incident an apparent ``suicide by police, said an investigation as well as toxicology tests and an autopsy might offer more insight into the incident.
Law enforcement officials across the country say it is not uncommon to see suicidal people provoke police to kill them.
A study of police shootings between 1987 and 1997 in Los Angeles County found that 11 percent could be counted as ``suicide by cop. More than half of those shot asked police to kill them.